On Thu Mar 30, 2017, Carl Savard, wrote:"Angel (Angelo?) Muzio (b. 26-7-1870 Italy)""All I know is that Angel did his military service in Pacienza (Ottono)"[snip]

Ok good, - you already have the name of the town where he was born and his "classe" 1870.Born in Comune - OttoneProvincia - Piacenza (PC)Regione - Emilia-RomagnaCountry - Italia(btw: The pre-unification name of the modern name of Piacenza was Parma.)

The age of compulsory military service was usually 20 years of age, organized by year and named classe di leva (conscription class). Angel Muzio is in classe 1870.

Every Italian town / city (comune) was required to make a draft list (Lista di Leva) for each classe and update it - deleting dead or emigrated people and adding new residents of the community. It is an alphabetical list of all the resident male population of eligible age for military conscription. The Lista di Leva were sent to the Consiglio di leva (draft board) who evaluated those who presented themselves for enlistment. .. ..

This is what I would try if I were in your situation.

Due to Angel and Celestina MUZIO having the same birth surname the bride "might" have been born in another town. If that is the case the birth comune of the bride is where the marriage took place. However the birth comune of the groom (Angel) would have had 2 sets of Pubblicazione (marriage banns) posted in a public viewing area in his birth comune of Ottone before the marriage was allowed to proceed. So the Comune of Ottone will have a record someplace of where he was married if not in Ottone.

To help keep everyone focused on the same person - send a request to the Anagrafe / Stato Civile or the Mayor of Ottone and ask for Angel MUZIO's birth record, marriage record, and his Lista di Leva in the same request.

Most likely the comune will not fill requests for copies of his Lista di Leva and will direct you to the Province Archives, or the Tribunale court or even the Distretto Militare. The added request is to help them ID Angel. So you want to help them by letting them know of his army matriculation class but not any errors that they might type out by copying your request for documents on an Angelo. Maybe he had a compound name like Angelantonio, etc., (you donot know for sure) therefore do not guess his name or they might send the wrong person to you with a similar name born around the same era, which happened to me once in the beginning of my research.

---Send your request and include a polite question, in advance, asking what they will charge and how to pay. Do not send money with your request.

When you make your request to the Comune di Ottone add wording to this effect: "if you do not have these records please tell me where to write." …

Ask for photocopies of the records (which they might not be do) - or extracts (estratto/estratti) and include a *please* add the "Annotazioni Marginali" (margin notes) if photocopying is not available..

If his marriage took place in another comune and they don't have time to look at the Pubblicazioni, which are generally not indexed in the yearly Registries by alphabetical order, then hopefully someone back in 1906 made a note on his birth record as to where he was married if not Ottone.

You could request a "copia integrale" (an exact copy) although the town secretary or civil servant in the Anagrafe/Stato Civile office could make more mistakes while copying it by hand onto a piece of paper than by typing the critical, basic info into the extraction form. They have lots of daily work to do for the people alive and living in the community now so they might rush. (haste makes waste)

You can try an email. If they ignore your email, no big deal, send a formal typed letter and that way they have your return address and signature and if all goes well you will eventually have the documents with their official stamp.

Here are *examples only* of Italian Form Letters. Modify some of the phrases for the request you wish to send.

Wow... thanks a lot for all that information! It is greatly appreciated.... :-) I will send my letter tomorrow. I hope I get a successful reply asap so that I can show it to his daughter! Thanks,... more

Hi, He's my great-grand-stepfather. My grand-step-mother gave me the info (she's 95 years old). I did enter the info in Wikitree. I'm not doing professional research but I have 25 years experience in ... more